The Pay It Forward Baby Ministry, a nonprofit organization that provides free diapers and gently used items to parents of babies and toddlers, has relocated to the recently closed Trinity Episcopal Church at 202 W. Miller St. in De Soto.
The ministry, formed in 2010, had been operating in the De Soto Community Center on Boyd Street since 2018. The group learned in February it would have to relocate due to Jim Thomas’ recent purchase of the Community Center for the Mel Bay Foundation.
The volunteers behind the Baby Ministry were pleased to find the Episcopal church building, which ceased services at the end of 2025. The group is leasing the building from the Episcopal Church Diocese of Missouri.
After being closed a month for the transition, the Baby Ministry will open in the new location today, May 21. Hours will remain the same: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Thursdays and the first Saturday of the month. Parents should enter through the red door without stairs off Miller Street.
Cindy Mitchell, one of eight who consistently volunteers, said families do not have to be from De Soto or even Jefferson County to shop at the free store. Clients have come from all over eastern Missouri from Troy to Cape Girardeau.
Families are not required to meet any income or work requirements. Parents, or foster parents, simply must have custody of the child and provide their name, address and phone number, and sign an agreement that they won’t sell anything they receive for free.
“There are no requirements,” volunteer Jill Malan said. “Everything is free.”
Mitchell said they help about 30 families a week.
“We will get slammed when we reopen,” she said, adding they normally close for a short time anyway at the switch from winter to summer clothing.
The Baby Ministry partners with the St. Louis Diaper Bank to purchase diapers. The number of diapers a parent receives depends on diaper size. Parents can receive 75 newborn to size 2 diapers or 50 size 3-6 diapers a month.
“We can’t give them all the diapers they will need,” said Carol Murray, who founded the ministry at what was Liberty Fellowship Church after her sister-in-law started a similar program in Doniphan. “We are just there to help.”
The Baby Ministry receives funding from the Jefferson Foundation, allowing it to purchase diapers, hygiene and baby safety items and pay toward the ministry’s expenses like rent. Murray said they wouldn’t be able to do the ministry without the help of the Jefferson Foundation.
In addition to purchasing these items, the group receives gently used (laundered and stain-free) donations of baby clothing (newborn to 4T), toys, cribs, crib sheets, baby swings, high chairs, bouncer seats, diaper bags and more.
The volunteers were glad the ministry was able to stay in De Soto where they live.
Malan said the community, including its churches and nonprofit organizations, has been extremely supportive.
Murray said the new space is better suited for the ministry. Instead of taking up five rooms at the Community Center, the church offers one big space for the ministry.
Mitchell said the new space will allow for a playroom for children while their parents are shopping. The sanctuary will be used as a work room to sort clothing and other donations.
“This will be a good place,” Malan said. “The diocese has been so lovely to work with.”
If a family has a need the Baby Ministry can’t meet, the group will direct the parents to other nonprofit organizations or put out special requests on the ministry’s Facebook page.
“We assist them with what we have and help them find other resources,” Murray said.
Volunteers said they have a high demand for things like high chairs, baby swings, strollers and baby gates. The group normally directs parents to the Jefferson County Health Department for car seats since those can expire, be subject to recalls or be damaged in an undisclosed car accident.
Mitchell said they are a Christian ministry, but they do not push religion on parents.
She said parents often are surprised and overwhelmed with gratitude that everything in the store is free.
“I wish something like this was around when I was raising my kids,” Murray said.
Fundraisers
Mitchell said they are in need of volunteers and donations, especially sponsors who are willing to provide small monthly contributions like $20-25 a month.
She said the rent expense has doubled. The group also must pay for liability insurance and a portion of the building’s utilities.
The Baby Ministry has a Baby Bottle Boomerang fundraiser where they give bottles to churches and organizations for members to fill with loose change from Mother’s Day to Father’s Day.
In addition, volunteers Jennifer Gill and Lisa Norton are hoping to have a baby wipe drive in the coming months at the Walmart store in De Soto. During the De Soto Fall Festival, which will be held Sept. 19 in downtown De Soto, the group will have raffles of donated items such as restaurant gift cards.
To make a donation or volunteer or for more information, call 314-779-4351.